By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Q&A with Scott Wiley, member relations manager with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce who announced in January plans to step down from his full-time role. Wiley has had a varied career that started with the Detroit Pistons (front office, not the court) and Executive Director with the Baker Boys Club and was a previous recipient of the Chamber’s Man of the Year Award.
The following is our conversation:
Q1. How long have you been with the chamber?
A1. I have been in my role as Member Relations Manager since January of 2020 (5 years). However, I’ve been a member of the Chamber Ambassador Committee since about 1999 (26 years)
Q2. Any idea how many videos you’ve been part of?
A2. I have never counted since the beginning, but I know we did 268 videos in 2024 alone, so probably easily over 500 in the last 5 years. Our videos have really taken off in 2025 and in only a month and a half have around 950,000 views.
Q3. Was the video stuff a cohesive, collaborative effort between you and Lauren Twombly, the communications director for the chamber?
A3. We have always provided high-quality professional “serious” videos, but it was Lauren’s idea to do some funny trending videos on Instagram, Tic Toc, and Facebook. Then once she got the approval from our President Rob Parker she “went for it.” She tells people that she always wanted to do funny videos but until I joined the Chamber no one was willing to make a fool of themselves for the sake of our members lol. Once we started adding humor to our reels and videos our viewership skyrocketed. Rob quickly joined in the fun too.
We all work well together as a team. That is a key component in us being unanimously voted the number one Chamber in the state in 2023.
Lauren does an amazing job of recording, directing, and editing the videos. She is so good at it that many times the videos are edited, synced with music, and posted on social media before we even leave our member’s location.
Q4. What has been your favorite video or project?
A4. They all have been fun in their own way. Almost all of them have been created “on the spot” without any pre-planning and have required a lot of instant improv. Personally, I do like the ones a little better that we have advance notice and can create a theme, gather props, and practice a little, rather than just “winging it”. A recent one that was the idea of Nic Prentice from Blue River Digital was fun, we pantomimed, danced, and lip-synced
to a Jimmy Fallon / Paul Rudd Tonight Show skit called “Teenie Weenie Beanie” to promote their stocking cap sale. It was a blast!
Q5. Does it feel like the end of a great collaborative era at the chamber?
A6. Oh my no, it is not the end. Rob has assembled a great team with a lot of momentum. We have added over 520 new members in the past 5 years and the current and future staff will continue to take it to the next level.
Q6. To what extent will you remain involved?
A6. We have not worked out the exact details yet. I will work in some part-time or project-based capacity. Hopefully, I will still appear in some videos and record Bizz Buzz radio interviews with our members on Kensington Digital Media’s local radio stations.
Q7. Just to be sure, you are content to remain with the Chamber in a part-time role?
A7. Yes! But it was a hard decision to retire. Our Chamber team is a family and I have the best job there is. However, my entire career I have always burned the candles at both ends and am ready and looking forward to life’s next chapter. I would love to travel and seek new adventures with my family and friends. To quote an unknown wise person “You can always make more money, but you can never make more time!”
Q8. Has this been your favorite job?
A8. God has blessed me in so many ways and I always say that I am the most blessed person in the world and I really know that to be true. I have been blessed in my personal life with a beautiful loving supportive family and throughout my entire career with very fulfilling jobs. I worked in the head office of the Detroit Pistons Basketball team right out of college, was Executive Vice President of an INC Magazine top 500 company that
we started called Flexible Personnel, and spent countless hours with the youth of our community as Executive Director of Baker Youth Clubs for 11 years. I have coached basketball, restored over 100 cars, motorcycles and vintage campers. I can’t thank God enough for all of His blessings. None of which I deserve, but were truly a gift from God.
I think all of those jobs prepared me for my job with the Chamber and I have loved every minute of it. I owe Rob and our staff a great deal of thanks for taking me in and letting me join their Chamber family. I would also like to thank my family and our community for always being so extremely supportive of me to which I will forever be grateful and can never thank them enough.
